Is AA for you?
Only you can decide if you want to try AA; Do you think it can help you? Those of us in AA joined because we had finally given up trying to regulate our drinking. Still, it stung us to admit that we could never drink without danger. Then we heard from other AA members that we were sick. We had actually agreed for years. We found that many people suffer from the same feelings of guilt, loneliness and hopelessness. We attributed these feelings to the fact that we had fallen ill with alcoholism.
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We decided to try to find out what the alcohol had done to us. Here we ask a few questions, which we ourselves try to answer honestly. If we answered yes to four or more questions, we were in serious trouble for drinking. Try and see how it goes for you. Remember that there is no shame in finding out the reality of the problem.
Questions
1. Have you ever tried to quit drinking for a week but only managed a couple of days?
Most of us in AA have made all kinds of promises to ourselves and our families. We couldn't keep them. Then we came to AA. It said, "Try not to drink just for this day". If you don't drink today, you can't get drunk today.
2. Do you wish people would mind their own business and stop giving you advice on drinking?
In AA, we don't ask anyone to do anything. We just talk about our own drinking, the difficulties we got into and how we stopped. We are happy to help if you want us to.
3. Have you ever switched from one drink to another hoping it would stop you from getting drunk?
We tried all ways. We diluted our drinks. We just drank beer. We did not mix different qualities together. We only drank on weekends. Ask anything, we've tried it. But whatever we drank that had alcohol in it, we usually always ended up drunk.
4. Have you had morning sickness during the past year?
Need a jolt to get going or to stop shaking? This is a clear sign that your drinking is out of the ordinary.
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5. Are you jealous of people who can drink without getting in trouble?
From time to time many of us have wondered why we are not like most other people who really can take it or leave it.
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6. Have you had problems due to drinking in the past six months?
Be honest! Doctors say that if you have an alcohol problem and keep drinking, it's only going to get worse - never better. You will eventually die or end up in an institution to expire. The only hope is to stop drinking.
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7. Has your drinking caused problems at home?
Before we came to AA, most of us said that it was people at home or problems at home that made us drink. We didn't realize that drinking only made everything worse. It has never solved any problems anywhere.
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8. Have you ever tried to get extra swag at events where there wasn't enough for you?
Most of us used to take a few before we left if we thought it would turn out to be "that" occasion. And if the drinks weren't served quickly enough, we could go elsewhere to get more.
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9. Do you tell yourself that you can stop drinking whenever you want, even though you keep getting drunk when you didn't mean to?
Many of us kid ourselves into thinking that we drink when we want to. When we got into AA we found that once we started we couldn't stop.
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10. Have you lost work days because of drinking?
Many of us now admit that we often called ourselves sick when in fact we were hungover or drunk.
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11. Have you had memory loss?
When we came to AA we found that this was a very sure sign of alcoholic drinking.
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12. Have you ever felt that your life might be better if you didn't drink?
Many of us started drinking because it made our lives easier, at least for a while. We were trapped when we came to AA. We drank to live and we lived to drink. We were sick and tired of being sick and tired.
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AA doesn't promise to solve your life's problems, but we can show you how we've learned to live without a hangover "one day at a time." We stay away from that "first flush". If there is no first, there cannot be a tenth. When we quit drinking, we found that we could control life much better than before.